Tag: Yoel Romero

Lyoto Machida may have been the slight favorite heading into Saturday’s fight against Yoel Romero, but “The Soldier of God” nearly sent him to Jesus with a series of (as Thomas Myers best described them) “murderous” elbows in the third round of their Fight Night 70 headliner.

It’s a match with high stakes, as it could theoretically produce a new title contender at 185-pounds. Jacare is currently listed as the #3 middleweight contender in the promotion’s rankings, and is a perfect 4-0 in the UFC with stoppage wins against Chris Camozzi, Yushin Okami, and Gegard Mousasi. Romero is ranked #6 and is 5-0 in the UFC, with four of those wins coming via KO/TKO. The “Soldier of God” most recently picked up a very controversial win against Tim Kennedy (#stoolgate), but nevertheless, this is a dangerous dude who can swing the hammers.

True story: After being forced to reign in my gambling habit (and temporarily flee the state) due to a particularly tough beat in the Dolphins-Pats game, I sheepishly made another go of it for UFC 178 last weekend, placing a harmless 100 dollar bet on an Ebersole-Masvidal-Zingano-Kennedy parlay. If all went according to plan, the bet would have netted me around $990, a.k.a enough to stop Hairy Mike and that bug-eyed goon Roscoe from throwing me out of another speeding car. (It’s the lack of respect that hurts the most. That and the road rash.)

At the end of the second round between Kennedy and Romero, I was never more sure that I would avoid another unfortunate roadside beatdown. Though I was bound to a chair with a gasoline-soaked rag stuffed in my mouth, confidence was flowing through every fabric of my being. “Mff iff i d,” I mumbled aloud, which is rag-speak for “This is my day.” When the allotted 60-second break between rounds had passed and Romero was still slunken on his stool, I came as close to jumping for joy as my constraints would allow. How could the fight *not* be over? Romero was out on his feet ass and Kennedy has already begun celebrating! Surely my moment of validation was at hand!

You could imagine my surprise when Big John McCarthy — he of MMA lore and Marvin Gaye lyric-stealing fame — not only *didn’t* call the fight right then and there, but actually allowed Romero to continue. The utter madness! In any case, the third round started, Romero channeled what I can only assume was voodoo strength, and the next thing I know, I’m being pushed out the back of an F-150 onto a crowded interstate highway. Life’s not fair sometimes.

I think John is the best ref in the promotion. He and Herb Dean, truly, I have respect for. He f—ed up majorly in my fight. He got owned. He got owned that night by a bunch of guys doing sh—y things. He got played by all three of them, and he just let it happen.

At UFC 178, Tim Kennedy was on the cusp of knocking out Yoel Romero in the dying seconds of round two, after he had endured a difficult 10 minutes against the Cuban powerhouse in their main card battle. Kennedy, who also grabbed Romero’s gloves to land several uppercuts, had “Soldier of God” in a world of hurt, as he continued to pounce on his adversary. The horn saved Romero, and as referee “Big” John McCarthy separated both fighters and ordered them to their respective corners, Romero looked as if he had spent three days in an afterhours club hopped up on Molly.

He had no clue where he was, sat on his stool, and looked quite petrified as he mumbled words to his coaches.

As both fighters were summoned for the third and final round, Romero just sat there while his coaches moved like tortoises exiting the cage. Despite his corner men stalling, Romero was still on his stool, with too much Vaseline on him. His corner proceeded to wipe it off, while the American walked around frustrated. As Joe Rogan went ballistic, the fight wasn’t called off, a point wasn’t even deducted, and more so, “Big” John McCarthy didn’t do a damn thing about it.

Seconds into the third round, Romero dropped Kennedy, pummeled him to hell and back, and stood over his bloody foe in victory after being awarded with the stoppage victory.

Pretty strange, huh?

Now, this reeks of controversy from both sides. Kennedy’s blatant glove-grabbing maybe wasn’t worthy of disqualification, yet Romero on his stool was pretty atrocious. Even if the fighter has too much Vaseline on him, which according to Dana White at the post-fight presser, was the promotion’s fault because it was one of their employees, he shouldn’t be chilling on the stool. But here’s the thing … were the corner men told to exit before taking the stool? Probably. However, isn’t it their job to actually take the stool?

Take a look at the confrontation between both fighters backstage, courtesy of a Vine post (props to MMA Fighting for the link) after the jump.

UFC 178 is in the books, and it was arguably the best UFC event of the year. Leading up to the extravaganza at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, the fight card looked promising, even though the cancellation of Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier for the light heavyweight championship had us all pretty bummed out.

With Demetrious Johnson and Chris Cariaso stepping up to the plate, nobody was truly interested in their flyweight title fight, simply because the rest of the card had more compelling stories, alongside fights deemed a little too difficult to call in order to bet the house, Coleman style.

That being said, let’s take a look at the most compelling scraps, and what to make of it all after we spent the last eight hours shadowboxing, binging on dollar store mini donuts, and obsessively searching the web for that CRUZ sweater.

A battle between top middleweights Tim Kennedy and Yoel Romero has just been added to UFC 178: Jones vs. Gustafsson II in the co-main event slot, which must mean that it is only a matter of time before an injury moves it into the *main* event slot. Regardless, the active duty Army Ranger and the Cuban powerhouse have been booked for a fight that could earn the winner a shot at middleweight champion Chris Weidman. “Middleweight champion Chris Weidman.” Still feels kind of weird to write that.

Kennedy is on the heels of a dominant, if less-than-thrilling victory over Michael Bisping at the TUF Nations Finale, which saw him completely neutralize the Brit with his takedown-oriented offense and ground-n-pound. Methinks Kennedy will have a tougher time doing the same against Romero, a hulking middleweight and Olympic silver medalist in freestyle wrestling who, like Kennedy, will be riding a four fight win streak into their matchup at UFC 178.

Following vicious KO wins over Clifford Starks, Ronny Markes, and Derek Brunson in his first three UFC appearances, Romero most recently bested TUF 11 alum Brad Tavares via unanimous decision at UFC on FOX 11 back in April.

After the jump: Highlights from Miesha Tate vs. Liz Carmouche and Yoel Romero vs. Brad Tavares. Plus, Dana White (mostly) praises Werdum’s performance in the main event while burying Browne for gassing out early, and Shaquille O’Neal eats a napkin for some reason.

After a long hiatus, liveblogger-supreme Anthony Gannon has returned to handle round-by-round results for the FOX main card of “Werdum vs. Browne,” which you can find after the jump beginning at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest updates, and shoot us your thoughts in the comments section or on twitter @cagepotatomma.